Thinking of a Specific Poem--Ted Berrigan's "A Final Sonnet"

Ted Berrigan's "A Final Sonnet" has been running in a constant stream through my mind for the last few days.  It has been one of those few touchstone poems for me for years, though it is probably the only Berrigan poem that specifically sticks with me.  In classic Berrigan sonnet form, it reverses the order, ending with "Dear Chris, / hello," while it begins with "How strange to be gone in a minute!"  Yes, how strange.  It reminds me of Shakespeare's "Sonnet 55" since it also explores the idea of "Everything / Turns into writing a name for a day."  Or perhaps it is more like Keats' gravestone, "Here lies one whose name is writ in water."  For me, "When I have required some heavenly music," Berrigan's lines repeat in my head like I song that I cannot forget.  Really, does it get better than this:

 

How strange to be gone in a minute!         A man
Signs a shovel and so he digs         Everything
Turns into writing a name for a day
                                                            Someone
is having a birthday and someone is getting
married and someone is telling a joke         

 

Human contingency is brought up right away, as is the shaky significance of humans.  The arts come in by line three, but as a type of graffiti on time.  Life is just happening in the next few lines, but following the first three, even the parties and events seem like a fleeting cosmic joke.